I always had the impression that the policy of total honesty turns easily into a policy of brutal honesty. And that one buys his own moral comfort at the price of clobbering other people's feelings.
Especially in a relationship, you will learn the things that are more painful to the other person. You will learn her/his dark past (we all have a little bit of darkness in our past).
And the Person, the SO, will be -in a measure at least- at your mercy. You know that she was dumped by another dude because he thought she was a hick; or that, as a kid, they taunted him because he was fat.
This is why, nowadays, when he asks you "Do I look good in this shirt ?" or when she says "Gee, I had never heard about this dude Wittgenstein before" - this, my friends, is the moment to shut the fuck up and eat your precious honesty and hide your thoughts. And lie. Lie with abandon, lie with a smile on your face, say "Wow, you look gorgeous", say "Ah, he is an obscure philosopher, nearly unknown".
Lying about yourself, as well, can be a healthy practice. Do you really want the whole mess to come out ? It may be a temporary solution, maybe in some years you will reveal all.
But I am sure that Little George Washington's disability was a very severe one. His subsequent success in politics indicates that he could overcome it.
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